


Nocturne Shadow

by Darksinokari (Darksinokaru)



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: AU, Alias', Angst, Bottom Cloud, Dark, Dark Romance, Disturbing Content, Drugs and drug use, Dubious consent (at some point), Emotional Manipulation, Heavy Subject Matter, Hiatus, M/M, Memory gaps, Mystery, Obsession, PTSD, Possessive Behavior, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Sefikura, Seme Sephiroth, Stalking, Top Sephiroth, Twisted love, Uke Cloud, more to be added - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:54:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25141969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darksinokaru/pseuds/Darksinokari
Summary: Riddled with night terrors, prone to panic attacks, kinesia, and neck deep in hemophobia, Cloud stood no chance in making the cut for SOLDIER. With nowhere to go, he made Midgar his home, living in the slums and working at a 24-hour superstore. He trudged through his life, stuck in time, unable to move forward. That is until he starts to spot a shadow out the corner of his eye.The coming of a mysterious man whose face resembles his nightmares finally presses time forward for Cloud, challenging his memories of fire, smoke, and the color of red. The more this man inserts himself into Cloud's life, the deeper he sinks into a world of passionate but life-threatening romance. Is love the reward for madness? Is darkness the cure for pain? Does the trickster get to be the hero?Sephiroth/Cloud
Relationships: Sephiroth/Cloud Strife
Comments: 21
Kudos: 81





	1. Cloud Strife

**Author's Note:**

> I made some changes to the events of Crisis Core for this fic to work. I'm going to try and work on revealing information through the story, so some things may be unclear, but it's intentional. 
> 
> Warning: I do not have a beta, unfortunately. I read over and try to catch any problems, but from past experience, I'm sure I've missed some. Hopefully nothing glaring.
> 
> I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any related properties. All belong to Square Enix and other respective owners. I'm just here for the Sephiroth/Cloud.
> 
> This is a side thing I wanted to write while focusing primarily on my main Bind It WIth Silk and Barbed Wire because it's fun to write really dark stuff. lol 
> 
> I hope that everyone that reads enjoys!

“Spill in the juice aisle. Striiife, you’re up!” Luckily, the obnoxiously made announcement had already been beaten to the punch by the blonde-haired teen who already approached the vibrant red spill across the floor with his mop and bucket of soup water with a sour look on his face. There were several things to hate to clean up, juice had to be one of the worst, with the cake reserved for overflowing toilets. What made the mop up of the juice isle so particularly bad was the curse is placed upon the poor fuck’s shoes who cleaned it up. Cloud shoved his mop into the bucket of water, used the lever built into the shaft to squeeze out excess water, and slapped the wet, braided cotton onto the floor. One sweep streaked the vibrant red over the gray pebbled white tile, another wiped moved it around some more, breaking apart the red dye, and the blonde swallowed when his stomach made an upset gurgle. Soft pink lips set into a deep brown as the blonde’s brow tensed in consternation.

The curse would soon be upon him no matter how carefully he stepped, and he’d have to deal with the sticky suction sound all night. Working the overnight shift in a store open 24 hours had its benefits since the lack of screaming children pulling and throwing things off shelves were absent, but night was when the drunk or high morons stumbled in. The guy that grabbed the tropical punch seemed like he was both- the ultimate annoying customer. He didn’t seem to know a damn thing going on around him, or why he even wanted juice, and the blonde had been helpless to do anything as he watched and cringed while the guy let it slip from his hands and hit the floor, the cap breaking off as the contents of the bottle vomited all across the tile. Hence, he had already been on the job even before anyone had to say a damn thing.

Behold, Cloud Strife, the country boy that left his old, destroyed life behind to chase his dream of joining SOLDIER. But after a thorough rejection upon his admittance of night terrors, public displays of panic attacks, kinesia, and hemophobia, he’d been resoundingly rejected from his dream. He had thought about lying, but knew he’d be caught rather quickly, and signed his own death sentence when he’d told them. He really didn’t see a choice. And so he slaved away in the city of smog, corruption, crime, sex, and drugs, working at a 24-hour superstore run of course, by ShinRa Inc. Everything You Need, Anytime You Need It. Yet the store usually failed to live up to the slogan. Cloud couldn’t count how many times someone would ask him if he knew where something was only for him to tell them that they only carried the most popular products, which really were just products that moved, and thus, they really didn’t carry everything everyone needed. It was annoying, especially when a customer got mouthy with him like he’d been the one to lie to them personally. Like he had been the one to come up with the slogan. It wasn’t his fault their needed item wasn’t sold there.

With the spill clean and his stomach starting to settle, Cloud raised his head, glad to look away from where the spill had slathered its atrocious color upon the floor. Even after cleaning it, the blonde could almost swear there was still a tinge of red, but he had done his duty. Finished, he placed a Wet Floor caution sign, grabbed his bucket and mop, and started to vacate the isle before freezing when he heard it. 

_Shhrik_

The blonde glanced down at his black shoes and glared as he stepped in place only to hear the rip of rubber off linoleum. Lifting his head and rolling his eyes in annoyance, Cloud walked forward toward the staff door, listening to the sticky peel of his shoes the entire way. The curse was upon him once again.

~~~

Cloud zipped up his black hoodie jacket printed with the image of a proud, stylized wolf on his chest, concealing his lanyard and badge as he walked out of the store, a bundle of lilies in his hand. He hurried from the bright lights that pierced through the inky darkness of the quiet strip mall, intent on getting away fast. Since there were no bars or clubs in the area, the portion of Sector 8 that ShinRa Super Store took up actually looked relatively normal, though anyone that lived in the area got to have one hell of a night light thanks to the store’s brightly lit nature. Cloud hurried across the nearly dead street and walked into a narrow alleyway, cutting through the block. Even though Sector 8, being the business district was a lot safer than most areas of Midgar, it was still Midgar, and there was danger lurking around every corner and within every shadow.

Cloud followed his familiar path through the streets to the train station, checking on his flowers every now and again as he walked to make sure nothing had happened to them. Once the walk had used to fray his nerves to the point of near passing out by the time he got home, but now he braved its path with calm caution. The train station was largely vacant, and luckily the blonde was in time to catch the very last ride. He slid his metro card through the reader and stepped on board. The inside of the train was almost entirely empty aside from a couple locking lips and a homeless man at the far back of the car. The blonde avoided looking at the moaning couple as their hands groped all over each other and kept his head down as he sat a roughly equal distance between the homeless man and the couple. Slipping in his earbuds, Cloud ran his thumb over the touch screen, searching out for something to listen to.

The song he chose filled his ears with the melodic strum of an electric guitar before the repercussions began and a sensual voice male voice sang over the music. Keeping his eyes closed the blonde leaned back in his seat and relaxed with is lilies in his lap. The smell of the train never changed, it always wreaked of trash, and other times it had the unwelcome addition of piss. At this late hour, it was usually drunk people and the homeless that filled the cars, especially those bound for below the plate. It was far from the grand adventure Cloud had dreamed as a kid, and even more of a let down than his boring hic town life had been in the mountains of Nibelheim. But, there was nowhere to go back to anymore, so there was no point in even comparing, though he couldn’t help it. Even though Cloud denied it out loud, he missed home, and couldn’t help but remember it how it used to be. 

The train stopped and the smell of leather whispered by Cloud’s nose. Curious, blue eyes slid open and looked around the car. The couple that had been nearly dry humping each other were just out the entry, but they had been replaced by a new passenger. On the far side opposite the homeless man to the blonde’s left was another man. Tall and obscured by a black long coat and bowler hat, he sat with his head down. Cloud wasn’t sure if he was just ignoring everyone, looking at something in his hands, or asleep already. It wasn’t necessarily an odd sight to see someone covered up and hiding on the train at night, but something about the figure was oddly attention grabbing. It was like his figure sucked up all the light in his corner of the car, replacing the light with physical darkness. Unsettled, Cloud forced himself to look away and changed the song on his phone. After the song changed over he gave a covert glance and his heart stopped in his chest. The obscured man stared at him, the rim of the bowler hat was pulled down to obscure the upper portion of his face, and though he was too far away to really tell, Cloud felt like he was being smiled at. Or smirked at.

A shiver crawled up the blonde’s spine and he jerked his eyes down so that he could pretend to be absorbed with his phone while taking measured breaths to try and prevent an oncoming anxiety attack. The prickly feeling in his chest would lead to painful heart races if he didn’t find a way to calm down. The last thing Cloud wanted was to turn into a panting, dizzy mess while grappling with an unnaturally racing heart in the middle of the train car. The blonde’s knees started to rapidly bob up and down as he sat there, doing his best to try and push away the oppressed feeling he felt from the man on the other side of the cabin. He couldn’t look, he wouldn’t dare to, he would force himself to ignore it. He was being paranoid, there was nothing, it was just a guy who caught him staring. There was nothing to it. 

The rest of the train ride felt like it took forever, and the blonde was almost dizzy as he fought what felt like a two flanked battle. But by the time his stop was about to be announced he was already up with his phone slid into the right pocket of his black jeans. His hand grabbed the rail by the door, his sweaty palms causing slippage that he rectified by gripping harder. Once the door slid open, Cloud was out and onto the trash ridden platform. Flowers in his one hand and the other shoved into his hoodie pocket, the blonde walked at a brisk pace off the platform and into the scrap made structures and homes of the slum-dwelling folk. Through the sector he walked, only slowing when he neared the entrance to sector seven. It was a little more lived-in inside sector seven, and it was where his small apartment was located, right by the bar Seventh Heaven.

Climbing up the unsteady, God-forsaken stairs to his door, Cloud unlocked it and stepped in. Right in through the front door was the living room, which doubled as his bedroom with a small kitchenette. After locking up all the various locks he had installed on the door, the blonde dropped his keys on the small square dinner shoved near the kitchenette before heading to the right where a small hallway of roughly only ten feet led to the only bedroom. To the right in the middle of the hallway was the bathroom door, which was ignored as he stepped into the bedroom and looked at the bed that took up most of the room. Two machines were positioned around the bed with various tubing sprouted from them and sunk into a slender body under the eggs shell white blanket. Setting the lilies down on a small wheeled table in front of the bed, the blonde examined the machines and checked the logs on the screens for anything unusual. When he was finished he cast his eyes to the face of a young girl framed by long ebony hair.

“Looks like you slept peacefully, huh?” Cloud said as he leaned forward and brushed a strand of hair from her bright pink lips. 

“I’ll clean you up in a minute,” the blonde said as he walked over to the table, picked up the lilies, and walked over to the dresser behind the machine on the right. After pulling out the wilting roses he laid both bouquets of flowers down, walked to the bathroom in the hall, washed out the vase, and replaced the water before he returned and placed the lilies inside. He for the life of him couldn’t remember what the girl’s favorite flowers were, or if they had ever even discussed it. So he opted to just choose pretty flowers whenever the existing ones started to die. After tossing the roses in the waste bin by the dresser, Cloud looked at the girl and gave an awkward smile.

“I managed to stop myself from having a panic attack at work, but the color red is still no good,” he said as he turned away, pulled open the top drawer in the dresser, and grabbed a small wash bucket with two wash cloths. 

“It’s almost bath time,” he said as he walked back into the bathroom. After filling the small plastic basin with water soaped with some nice smelling body wash, he came back into the room, pulled a conspicuous chair from the right corner of the room door side, and sat down by the bed. From there he carefully removed the blanket and started to wipe down first the girl’s arms, her legs, and then her torso. It had once been difficult and extremely awkward to wash her torso in particular, not only due to her womanly assets, but because it was difficult to avoid the discomfort of the massive scar that bisected her body, but Cloud had become desensitized to it over the last few years. He could wash her now with almost no anxiety or dizzy spells. There was simply no one else who could do it, so he had to man up and do all the work himself. If she was ever going to wake up again, she needed to be healthy, and being clean was another part of being healthy.

Once she was clean he wiped her down with another dry cloth and remade her blankets so that she could rest comfortably and exited the room with his dirty cloths. After that Cloud took a shower himself to wash the day’s work away and calm his stressed nerves. Finished, the blonde walked over to the small fridge and popped open the freezer. He pulled out a mac and cheese microwave dinner, took it out of the box, and followed the instructions for microwave cooking. While it spun around leisurely and cooked, the blonde sat on the sofa bed in the living room.

Even though it possessed the ability to exist as a couch, the broken and worn out bed remained as only a bed. Not that it mattered, Cloud had no friends and no reason for guests, so it suited him to leave it as a bed. He turned the TV on and flipped the channels until he found a TV show with some mild appeal. There were only two windows in the apartment, both were pretty big, large enough for someone to climb through, which had triggered a lot of nightmares for Cloud when they had moved in. But after spending enough time in the home with no incident, and knowing that it would be exceedingly difficult, more trouble than it was actually worth, he was able to relax to a more reasonable level of stress. It wasn’t like he had anything worth stealing anyway, no one in the slums did except the shops. When his dinner finished Cloud ate in silence, dressed in only a black tank top and boxers. It was nearly four in the morning by the time the TV was turned off and the blonde crawled into bed.

The metal frame creaked and bent beneath him as if threatening to break apart, and though the thin mattress was no matter than lying down on the floor, in particular for a side sleeper, the blonde pulled his thin blanket up over his shoulder, slid his arm beneath his pillow, and closed his eyes. Sleep was hard to find, Cloud could never calm his mind enough. On cue, he suddenly remembered the guy on the train and tension wound throughout his body as his heart rate elevated. It was just a weird, random guy who caught him staring. He knew thinking about it meant nothing, he was fine. He saw no one follow him home for he had been watching. He was safe, the door was locked tight. He had a baseball bat stowed in between the crevice of the metal bed frame the armchair of the couch that he could easily snatch up if he needed it too. He also had a combat knife hidden under the couch. He was safe, he could handle anything that came his way. Cloud’s eyes opened and he stared across the inky darkness of the apartment toward where he knew the front door was. He stared at it. And stared at it.


	2. Broken Glass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cloud has a very stressful wake-up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. a new update! This chapter was mostly done for a while, but I kept changing portions of it. Hopefully, this chapter came out well!
> 
> Thank you so much to those of you that have shown your support! Thank you so much!
> 
> I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any related properties. All belong to Square Enix and other respective owners. I'm just here for the Sephiroth/Cloud.

Cloud slept, unaware of the muttering that filled the air.

Ican’tgothatway.No.Thisiswrong.Whereisthefire?Wheresitcomingfrom?Mom?Whereareyou,mom? Please,pleasedon’tbedead.Mom,please,thefire,there’safire.Ican’tgothatway.No.No.Thisiswrong.Whereiseverybody?WhyamIalive?Whyistheresomuchblood?Whobrokeallthewindows?Don’tlookthisway,please.Please.Please.Whydothis?Tifa.Tifa.Someoneishere.Mybackdoorisopen.Someoneishere.There’ssomeonehereintheroom.Everybodyisdead.

Cloud woke with a sharp gasp, eyes open wide and alert as his heart thrummed in his chest. His gaze slid from one side of the room to the other. It was the same old water-stained, paint peeling room he always woke up in. A strong chill caressed his back and Cloud jerked up on his palms before he twisted his head and torso. His eyes locked with the most offensive thing he could find after a night of sleep-an open window. The blonde’s heart twisted painfully in his chest and his vision swayed. His throat suddenly felt tight and dry as a cold sweat broke out across his skin. Cloud scrambled clumsily out of the creaking bed and grabbed his bat. After flipping on the main room light, he surveyed his room keenly. Nothing was there. His hands shook as he forced himself to go down the hall. First, he stepped into the bathroom on his way and tore open the shower curtain to find nothing out of place. Heart thumping his throat the blonde moved to the occupied bedroom and tightened his grip on the polished wood in his hands. Inside the bedroom lay his childhood friend, still as stone if not for the rise and fall of her chest. Cloud pulled the closet door open and looked inside only to find it stacked with boxes as he had left it. Closing the door he walked back to the living room, his heart still pounding as he examined the door.

Every lock was in place. His TV dinner trash in the waste bin in the kitchenette, his dirty silverware sat in the small sink. The remote was still where he’d left it by the TV. There was only one thing out of place, and it taunted him as it defiantly let the stink of the slums mingle into the musty air of the apartment. Stomping forward Cloud leaned his hand on the window sill and looked out. There was no way for anyone to just climb up; it was bolted and sautered metal plates over crumbling brick and a straight drop three stories down to the ground. It would have taken quite an improvised ladder of considerable height to reach his window, not something a common thief would have in their back pocket. The blonde glared down at the world below and slammed his window shut, and gasped. The chilled morning air flowed freely through the window, chilling him as the jagged teeth of a gaping maw laughed at him. The glass was broken, smashed through in a fist-sized, jagged hole that spread cracks far and wide through the window. And what sat in the middle off the break? The window lock. Cloud’s world spun and his heart raced with vicious terror as he stumbled back until his legs hit the bed and yelped when he fell down on it. He hand clutched at his shirt over where his heart raced as he struggled to calm the painful, unnatural racing beat. He stared, eyes wide in horror as horrible chills broke out across his skin and Cloud shuddered while his stomach gave into unforgiving twisting. 

“No, no, no,” Cloud whispered in shaky, uneven breaths as he wrapped his arms around himself, fingernails biting into his skin as he sat still and stared out at the rooftops and smoke that billowed from down below. Almost dark as night, the few flickering lights of those who had already started their day reached his view through the broken glass of his window. There was no way to rationalize it away. There was nothing that could be said to comfort himself. Cloud glanced at the wall-mounted clock above his bed. It was seven in the morning. He always woke at seven in the morning unless something disturbed him. And it made the blonde wonder why he hadn’t woken when the glass shattered.

Swallowing past the lump in his dry throat, Cloud stood up on shaky feet and took deliberate breaths to calm down. He couldn’t sit and cower like a child. He had to fix his window. After twisting the lock on the window Cloud gazed out again, disturbed as his mind tried to run away with different theories on the broken glass. Turning from the window a sweep of his gaze caught sight of something just beneath the edge of the bed on the floor. With his heart once again pounding in his chest, the blonde knelt down, hesitant, as his shaking fingers spread out. Due to the fear of rats and roaches Cloud always kept a clean apartment with nothing available for any critter to hide within or under. Sucking his bottom lip between his teeth the blonde’s fingers twitched, a mysterious itch crawling up the appendages. He didn’t want to touch it. Something so small, something surely without any real merit, maybe he had dropped a sock and hadn’t realized it. Finally, he touched the surface, and his hand twitched back. It had been silky soft, and threaded perhaps? The idea that it was a dead animal came to his mind and Cloud swallowed as he forced himself to pick it up. It was small and had no weight at all. He stared, wide-eyed at the lighter than air object that settled in his palm. It curved slightly, and long dark threads reached out from the spine of none other than a single, black feather.

Cloud looked back to his window and his heart dropped into his stomach. Did a bird hit his window? But, if so, shouldn’t the body be right there? Why just a single feather? Cloud went into the kitchen and grabbed his flashlight off the top of his fridge and dropped onto his hands and knees by his bed. Beneath the bed, he found no other feathers, but to his surprise, tangled in his blankets he found a tuft of feather. Perplexed, the blonde set about his apartment, searching. Very quickly his determination rewarded him with prickling fear. On the floor in the corner of the living room window side was another feather. Another was tangled in his blankets, probably from when he had thrown them off. A chill raced down his spine. It made no sense. Either the bird hit his window and bounced off, and died, or made it through the window, died, or made a shit ton of noise. How the fuck did he sleep through it all? And then the blonde froze. Wait, he was forgetting a very damning piece of evidence. Birds cannot open windows, and his window had been open.

It was almost as if the feathers had been some sort of intentional distraction. Cloud felt his anxiety shoot through the roof. Did someone break in and try to trick him? His vision swayed as his heart raced maddeningly in his chest. Suddenly nauseous, Cloud went into the bathroom and pulled the medicine cabinet open. Inside were multiple orange bottles with labeling indicating medication names, dosage, and his name. He grabbed his Citalopram HBR 20mg and twisted the lid open. Cloud shook out one tiny pill and slammed the bottle down. Grabbing the glass that sat on the solitary bathroom sink ledge, he filled it with water, popped the pill into his mouth, and washed it back. After taking the pill the blonde capped his medication bottle, put it away, and poured out the remaining water before he walked back out into the living room and sat down heavily on the edge of his creaky bed.

Concentrating on taking deep breaths that really didn’t help the panicked racing of his heart, Cloud stayed upright. He knew better than to lay down, it would only make the racing worse. Sweat broke out across his body as his temperature soared, but all he could do was sit still and wait for the medication to work. It took roughly 20 minutes, and as damned it always was, his eyes felt heavy as strong grogginess saturated his senses and his muscles suddenly felt numb. He wasn’t sure he could fight it either, his entire body felt loose and heavy. Though he had been instructed to take the medication at the onset of an attack, it always put him out. Which meant taking it when he was actually expected to be awake impossible. Cloud glanced at his window, wishing that he could somehow will it whole, that he had the power to make it so that it never happened. So quiet for so long, though he supposed, it couldn’t always be quiet and in his control. Unable to stop it, but at least calm, Cloud let himself sink over onto his side, boneless, and let the world spinning world of stress and anxiety leave him. The thought that he had once been so adventurous, determined, and ready to take on any and all challenges hit, and Cloud couldn’t help the bitter laugh that escaped him. Boy, if his old self saw him now, he’d never believe it. But everything changed after that fire. Cloud wasn’t the same guy anymore. 

Cloud woke nearly six hours later, slow and with struggle. Cracking his eyes open, his vision cleared and filled with the dim light of his room. The blonde looked up at the clock as he forced his tingling limbs to move him into an upright position. It was one-thirty in the afternoon. He had slept six hours, and the grogginess that always came with the medication clung to him like death. He turned and looked at his window. Still broken. The blonde closed his eyes and took a slow, deep, measured breath and slowly released it to keep himself calm before he worked his legs to lift him onto his feet. He had things to do. That window could not be allowed to exist the way it was. After checking in on his only companion Cloud pulled on a black T-shirt to some metal band he had bought at a thrift store, a pair of dark jeans, and stuffed his feet into his black running shoes. With another survey of his apartment, the blonde shoved his wallet into his front pocket and left the apartment, unable to help the creeping fear in the base of his spine that something terrible could happen while he was away. 

The dark streets of the slums were lit only by the scant light provided from homes and the rare light post. Though an ominous green haze seemed to offer a false sense of light as it bounced mysteriously off every surface. Cloud followed the familiar path to Wall Market as he pulled his hoodie up over his head. Wall Market, the place where anything could be acquired with the right connections or money. However, the blonde’s needs were simple enough that all it required was a few hundred gil and he’d have all he needed. Cloud wouldn’t be able to see his landlord until the crotchety old man returned next week, which meant he would have a week of vulnerability. So when the blonde made it into the hardware store he went straight for the small wood section it housed and began looking up large planks of various wood types. It didn’t take long for a store associate to come upon him. 

“Hello, is there something you need?” a brunette woman asked. Cloud pointed to the ten-foot collection of cheap wood planks. 

“Two of these please, cut at 3 feet each,” Cloud said and the women lifted her walkie talkie to her lips. She regarded Cloud before she hit the big red button on it.

“You’ll have extra wood left over,” she said and the blonde nodded. 

“You can keep it, I’ll just be buying two of these,” he said with a gesture to what he wanted again. Some people no doubt complained about not wanting to pay for the wood they wouldn’t use, but Cloud was not someone to cause a fuss over something so trivial. With a nod, the woman spoke into her walkie talkie. A couple of minutes later a man showed up with a three-foot stool, grabbed Cloud’s wood, and led the blonde to a cutting station. When Cloud left he paid for his wood with the addition of nails and a hammer and walked away with a heavy load in both hands. Though tired, Cloud hiked his way up to his apartment and inside. He checked every room over, made sure his companion was comfortable and set about boarding up the living room window. The hammering was loud, and Cloud knew the neighbors could hear him through the thin walls, but shrugged his concern for his neighbors anger away and continued.

He’d be in trouble for boarding up his window, but even if the old bastard that ran his building was a dick about everything, he wasn’t entirely without understanding, though he also knew Cloud had a proclivity to overreaction. Which couldn’t be exemplified more by the fact that after giving an apology to his friend, he boarded up her window too. It wasn’t a perfect job, and there were large gaps where he could see through the boards, but it would do what he wanted—keep someone out. It was three-thirty in the afternoon when Cloud finished the job and he finally ate the last bagel he had while he watched TV. He would have to go grocery shopping soon, and the blonde loath to do it, but at least at work, he would get a discount. It was hard to stare at the boarded-up window and not get a chill. It was scary. It made him sound like a big manbaby when he didn’t even know what happened and when nothing had happened to him, his friend, or any of his garbage stuff. But it really, truly was, scary.

~~~

Sweat poured down Cloud’s face. It was burning hot, and a strange, cold numbness radiated from his stomach. Darkness pressed in around him, and a chilly night breeze induced a powerful shudder as the heat that had been pressing down on the young blonde suddenly disappeared. Cloud was rapidly becoming aware that he was huddled over, and in confusion, the blonde tried to straighten his back only to find intense, pulling pain zap through his once numb stomach. Now a strong cold began to fill him, radiating it felt from his stomach, inviting a shudder. Both of his hands were tucked against his folded over belly, and the blonde unfolded his left hand and looked before horror gripped his heart. Blood? It stained his hand such a colorful dark red, red had seen so much of. An intense wave of emotion rushed over the blonde and he struggled to stifle a scream. Fear, Frustration, and Anger battled, confusing him. What had happened? Where was he? His stomach, was the blood coming from there? Horror twisted his heart and his mouth watered with sickness. He carefully tried to sit back, but the pain snapped all through him and Cloud froze. He looked down and immediately his stomach heaved, searing his nerves with pain as he lurched forward and vomited, pure blood spilling the ground before Tifa. The blonde froze and lifted his eyes up. Roughly a foot away, unconscious on her back lay his childhood friend, a deep bloody gash bisecting her clothes and torso. He looked down at himself again, at all the blood that had soaked into his white t-shirt. His right hand twitched, and then he became aware of something pressed into his gut. Carefully, suddenly assaulted by intense shakes, Cloud pulled his hand away, and inside it was a green materia. Where did it come from? What did it do?

His shaking grip on it tightened and Cloud felt an odd soothing swirl around his hand. Was it a restore materia? He had barely ever seen one before, but perhaps it was? Cloud glanced at Tifa again. It was bad, somehow they were both hurt really bad. He glanced down at the materia. He didn’t know how to tell the difference between materia yet, it could cast fire on them, a thought of which caused a violent shudder up his back. Cloud lifted the materia up, his arm almost lacked the strength, but he gripped the orb tight and focused all of his energy into his hand, into the ball. He had no idea if that was how it worked, he had never used materia and no one had told him how. But he had to try something, or else they were going to die anyway. The materia released a slow light that unfurled from it and Cloud gasped when glitters of light spread from the ball and surrounded him. He closed his eyes, and within a moment the pain in his stomach ease. When he opened his eyes again, he sat back and found he was able to move without the slightest twitch of pain in his belly. Excited, he stumbled on his hands over towards Tifa and used the orb again, and watched as it enveloped the girl before the light faded.

It was awkward to check her, but Cloud asserted to himself it was important when he pulled the bloody pieces of Tifa’s top away from her, and to his relief, the gash he had surmised was there, was healed. But disappointment filled his heart. The wound was healed, but a nasty, thick scar bisected her torso. Cloud frowned, but after checking her pulse to find it steady and strong, he heaved a sigh of relief. She was okay. After that the blonde pulled Tifa onto his back, which turned out to be a lot harder than it always looked in movies, as a result, she was unstable and he didn’t make it far, but far enough to each a rock formation to lean against. Cloud had no idea where he was. He pulled his knees to his chest after he sat down next to his friend, trying to ignore the nauseating color on his shirt and tried to think. The fire chased him out of the house. But it was so chaotic he just couldn’t remember. He couldn’t remember Tifa at all, seeing her or anything, but she was there. Cloud wondered briefly if the martial arts student had perhaps carried him if he passed out. It would explain why he couldn’t remember anything other than the initial fire.

Cloud glanced at his friend resting by his side, lowered his legs, and gently laid her head down in his lap. He didn’t know where he should go. Back home? His mom would be worried about him. Fear gripped his heart tight then and a heavy dread filled Cloud’s stomach. His heart raced and suddenly he wasn’t able to keep his breath. There was so much noise, in all that chaos. Lots of screams, and the red, he saw red, didn’t he? It was why he passed out. There was just so much of it. Pools of it. What the fuck happened? Cloud attempted to calm his racing heart with deep breaths, but somehow that only made it worse and his face pinched with pain as he doubled over, hand clutching his shirt as his vision swayed. No, he couldn’t go back. If he went back; God, no one was alive. Everyone was dead. Cloud wasn’t sure exactly what it was, he didn’t really remember, but there were impressions and faint recollections, fractures of images. Nibelheim was gone. It was nothing but ash now. He just knew it. He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t go back. If he went back there, he just had an intimate feeling of death. He couldn’t go, he had to leave. That’s why he was out in the middle of nowhere. Surely Tifa was trying to escape with him. Which meant, it would be stupid to return. Someone stabbed him, someone sliced his friend almost in half. No, he couldn’t go back. He had to leave. It was the only smart thing to do, it was the safe thing. But where to go? Costa Del Sol? No, Midgar. Surely someone in the big city could help him. Right?

Cloud carried Tifa in his arms for weeks. His only reprieve was sleep, which was barely successful due to the fear of monster attacks and constant hourly wake ups. He had no gil for anything, so towns wouldn’t be helpful, and he didn’t want anyone questioning him on why he was carrying a girl around wearing a bloody shirt, and why he wasn’t wearing one. Every day Cloud hoped Tifa would wake, but even after car rides from people nice enough to help him cover ground faster and nights he struggled to find anything to eat and went hungry, she never did. She never woke up. It felt like forever ago now, reaching Midgar, stumbling into a clinic and collapsing after nearly being robbed. Cloud was given water and a meal while Tifa was examined. And despite all of that, despite the debt that the blonde had wracked up, Tifa never woke up. After a while Cloud thought to pick up his dream of SOLDIER again, if anything it would improve Tifa's care. But of course, that went nowhere as well.

“May I sit here?” Cloud’s eyes jerked up from his feet and up to the face that peered down at him. He was on the train again heading plate side. And to his right was someone invading his space, which was inherently quite large. A horrible spike of anxiety rocketed through the blonde. A black bowler hat with the brim pulled low and the long black coat. It was the same guy from the night before. Cloud still couldn’t really see his face at all, even up close due to the downturned angle of his head. Almost like he was trying not to be seen. Cloud looked around the row of seating he was on, and it was full. The blonde glanced covertly around the car, it was full everywhere; what happened during the daylight hours he supposed. He glanced at his black backpack and sheepishly pulled it into his lap, body going rigid when the man moved, the leather scent of his coat waving in the air and catching his nose.

“Thank you,” the man’s low rumbling voice said as he sat down. Cloud attempted to scoot away a little, but the elderly woman on his other side was too close. Anxiety tugged at him, urging the blonde to pull his shoulders inward as he huddled over, wanting to shrink into something small. Nothing was said to him, the man didn’t even appear to look at him again. Maybe he was being stupid, so what if he saw the guy again. Maybe he got a new job top side and was going to and from work, and coincidentally they happened to run into each other again. Though no matter how much he rationalized it Cloud realized it didn’t really matter unless the guy followed him home or something and that he shouldn’t have been obsessing over what reasons someone had to ride the train.

When Cloud’s stop arrived the mysterious man stood up before he even did, consequently forcing the blonde to follow him out the doors. Cloud stopped on the platform and watched the ominously dressed man walk away without a glance back or falter in his steps, in fact, his walk was so graceful it was almost like his feet didn’t quite touch the ground even though the blonde could hear his steps, what he thought sounded like boots, softly pad across the platform and onto the street. Shaking himself, Cloud slung his backpack onto his shoulders and walked off the platform before taking a different direction-toward his work. And groceries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone enjoyed!


	3. Seth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cloud finds himself at the notice of the mysterious man on the train.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! Got a new chapter out! I hope that it's enjoyable and feels well-paced. I struggled with how I wanted to handle the situation that arises here.
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who has left comments, kudos, bookmarked, and subscribed. And thank you all so much for reading this fic to this point!
> 
> And a shout out to my wonderful beta [Mr. Shimada ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mr_Shimada/pseuds/Mr_Shimada)for catching all my mistakes and comma abuse. lol
> 
> I sincerely hope everyone enjoys this chapter!
> 
> I'd not read the end of chapter notes before reading the chapter as they are kinda spoiler-y.

Cloud walked the streets, squinting against the fogged over but sunny afternoon. His feet carried him through shortcuts, across streets, and down blocks until he reached the massive fortress of iron and glass that was none other than ShinRa’s 24-hour superstore. Stepping in through the doors, the heat of the day was washed away by a blast of icy air before he turned and started for the employee room. Even though he wasn’t actually due in today, Cloud still got the perk of having access to the employee sections, though from what the blonde heard not all workplaces allowed employees to access such areas when not on shift. A familiar face greeted Cloud as soon as he pushed through the swinging double doors.

“Cloudie boy~ What are you doin’ here on your day off?!” Dave greeted as he strutted over to the blonde before his smile dropped and he gave Cloud a hard look over. “You party hard last night or something? You look like shit. Though, you always look miserable,” the brunette informed and the blonde scrunched his face up with a glare before he turned away and went to his locker in the break area.

“Groceries,” Cloud stated, voice flat as he spun his combination into his locker and opened the door before shoving his backpack inside.

“Oh, shit,” Dave said, more sober in his responses. “Damn, thought I got the chance to give you shit for getting your days wrong,” the brunette said as he slid his hands into the pockets of his black slacks, his lanyard with his badge catching on his arm briefly.

“I haven’t done that in a long time,” Cloud said as he turned and met Dave head on. The brunette placed his hand on the blonde’s shoulder and gave a rueful grin.

“Hey, no biggie. Tifa doin’ okay?” Dave asked as Cloud shook his hand off his shoulder and the two started for the doors back into the store.

“Fine. She sleeps, same as usual,” the blonde explained.

“Okay. I give up, you’re in a pissy mood. Let me know when you’re ready to check out,” Dave said with another pat to Cloud’s shoulder. The blonde looked over at the brunette who lifted his hand in a lazy wave as he walked back to the gigantic stock room that ran through the entire back of the store. “Text me!” the brunette called and Cloud righted his face and walked out of the room. In the store, he walked back to the front, grabbed a handbasket, and turned into the grocery section. He didn’t spend much time actually browsing, immediately going for the same foods he always got unless out of stock, which of course, happened a lot. The blonde couldn’t count how many times he’d failed to find something while shopping to see it later in the stock room, just sitting/waiting to be stocked. It seemed there was an ill shadow that followed Cloud, putting him in the wrong place at the wrong time constantly.

Quickly the blonde picked his way through the canned food section, all the bright colors blurring together as he only went for what he knew he wanted and grabbed the usual brands before he picked up a loaf of bread, a bag of bagels, and moved on to the freezer section. Passing by the fluorescent lights of the rows of freezers, he grabbed his typical tv dinners that he switched between on a weekly basis for some variety. Done with that the blonde sent out a text to his senior co-worker and Cloud checked out, stuffed his small collection of food items into his backpack, and left with a farewell from Dave.

Cloud walked quickly through all the familiar pathways back towards the bus station. Even though it wasn’t like he had much to do back at his apartment, the blonde preferred being near his childhood friend should something happen, or the miracle of her waking. As he passed by a narrow space between two business buildings that couldn’t be called an alleyway something caught his eye and he paused for a brief moment. Glancing through the five-foot wide space the blonde stared a second, but all he could see were people walking by on the busy street across the massive buildings. Shaking himself with a scold the blonde picked up his feet again.

However, after such a small thing, even if it were only the glint of a tall person walking by on the busy street far from him, Cloud became more focused on his surroundings. It was dumb, there was no need to get worked up. But his imagination was starting to taunt him with visions that he had not seen there. It was just a small space between commercial buildings with people walking up and down the busy main street on the other side. There had been nothing in that small space, and even if someone had been there, people had the freedom to lean or stand wherever they wanted for any reason, to smoke, to drink, to fuck. There was nothing to get worried about or obsess over. It was so trivial. Cloud shook his head slightly, swaying the soft spikes of his hair as he walked faster.

The sound of something crunching made him jump and the blonde looked down when he realized he had stepped on a collection of broken green glass, probably from a beer bottle. Frowning as his hand went to his heart, Cloud swallowed through his suddenly drier throat and took a breath to try and calm his heart before picking up his feet again and started walking.

Stop it. Stop it. He needed to stop it. He was making himself jumpy. He was scaring himself for no good reason. It was broad daylight. While that did not guarantee his safety by any means, it was less likely since most criminals tended to like to not get caught doing something. Of course, that was why people avoided alleyways. Cloud had once avoided the ones he took, but his desire to get into the safety of his home as soon as possible had prompted the blonde to take them. At first, he ran, ran as fast as he could down them. When nothing happened he started to walk them fast. And now, unless he was anxious, he could walk at an only slightly aggressive speed.

Cloud felt like running again, the desire was digging into the base of his spine, chilling up his back and scratching at the back of his skull. He shouldn’t give in to it, if he did he would only encourage himself. He knew that. But it was growing stronger. He could feel a chill spreading across his back like he was being watched. There was probably no one behind him. Twisting to glance, Cloud confirmed that in fact, he was alone. The sound of something like the heel of a boot shot through the blonde’s heart and his back stiffened before he decided in a split second to screw all of it, grabbed the straps of his backpack and ran down the alley, pushing his feet to move him faster and faster.

Cloud sprinted out of the shortcuts he always took and down the road before turning into the platform area for the train, which was already there. Yanking his phone out of his pocket, the blonde checked the time to find he had arrived early enough to catch the train one trip early and slowed when he found himself in a line of bodies. Taking breaths to try and calm his painfully racing heart, the blonde boarded the train and glanced around while more people sauntered up behind him. It was crowded and Cloud almost felt like he might collapse as a wave of dizziness washed over him when he spotted, though more like stopped upon, the sight of the man in the long black coat and bowler hat. It was the only spot open, and with the bodies pressing in behind him, Cloud grit through the painful jump in his chest and stiffly walked over before he sat down next to the man on the far side of the car. His backpack went into his lap which he doubled over, opened his mouth, and tried to breathe in deep and slow. But he couldn’t stop the racing of his mind, he was all too aware of the mysterious man next to him, one he had hoped he wouldn’t see for a while, a man he shouldn’t have been so obsessively paranoid over. The man shifted and Cloud bit back any noise of distress that welled up in his chest as sweat began to trickle down his brow.

“Are you all right?” a deep, rumbling voice asked and the blonde’s breath hitched, making his heart squeal in his chest for a brief moment before resuming the abnormal pulsing. Cloud squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.

“Panic attack,” the blonde gasped quietly. It was silent and still a moment as people continued to pile into the car, either not noticing or ignoring the young man panting while doubled over, not even the woman next to him seemed to notice. A moment later something settled over his head and Cloud gasped, heart jerking in his chest again before he opened his eyes and found his vision shadowed, obscured by a brim.

“I know nothing about such things, but perhaps you can hide in there,” the man said, voice melodious, soft, oddly gentle. The blonde lifted his hand and felt the top of the bowler hat before pushing it down over his eyes more before tensing a moment, jaw clenched, teeth creaking in his mouth before he released a hard breath and tried over again to calm down. It was so humiliating, but at least the guy was being nice about it.

“Thank you,” Cloud sighed, but as soon as his voice vibrated in his throat the racing was worse again and he grimaced. He needed his medication, again. Fuck. He was going to end up sleeping all day, all because of being set off by his window. Something slid low enough to be seen underneath the brim of the hat and the blonde stared at it a moment. A black leather-gloved hand, and in between the pinched together thumb and index finger was a small, broken end of something white.

“What?” Cloud rasped.

“Roughly a quarter of a ShinRa PM. It might help,” the man said and the blonde stared at it a moment. He couldn’t believe he was being offered a pill by a stranger. There was the identifiable shake of a bottle of pills before another hand appeared, showing the label, which both hands moved to twist the lid off of. With the piece still pinched between the two digits, the bottle was shook into the palm of the hand holding the pill part and showed the contents, each printed with either PM or ShinRa on the other side. They were easy to recognize, primarily because Cloud had resorted to taking them before he’d been prescribed his anti-anxiety medication which also ended up helping him sleep. The blonde offered out his hand and the pill part was dropped into it before the rest were poured back through the mouth of the bottle before it was twisted closed. Straightening his back Cloud popped the pill piece into his mouth and swallowed with a backward tilt of his head before doubling back over.

“You offer pills to people a lot?” the blonde asked, and a soft chuckle filled his ears.

“It’s a way to make gil,” the man said and Cloud tensed, eyes rounding for a moment in his surprise before he relaxed and tried to focus on his breathing. He needed to relax. He needed to focus.

“Isn’t that illegal?” the blonde asked.

“Only if I sell illegal things. Last I checked, ShinRa PM isn’t illegal, nor locked behind a doctor’s visit,” the man explained and the blonde nodded slightly. Whether it was a placebo effect or simply because he really was finally relaxing, his heart started to slowly calm down.

“Have you ever had a panic attack?” Cloud asked.

“No. But,” the man paused for the barest of a moment, “I have had a meltdown,” he explained. The blonde’s lips pursed with some tension in his brow when his heart raced a few painful times before calming down again.

“At work, or?”

“Not exactly. Though I was on the job,” the man explained.

“What caused it?” Cloud asked, and when he got no answer he knew he’d asked too much. “Sorry,” he muttered. A chuckle was the answer he got.

“Well, I certainly would not be as adverse to sharing my darkest secrets with someone who I knew,” the man said and the blonde gasped, heart surging in his chest again for the briefest of moments before settling again.

“I’m sorry, I never even introduced myself,” Cloud mumbled. Taking in another slow, deep breath, he released it, slow and steady, and straightened up, but kept the gifted hat on his head as he looked at the man sitting next to him. The blonde froze, that face was striking, biting into the back of his mind with familiarity. Long straight brown hair with high lifted bangs that layered down his face to his chest. His eyes were exceptionally unusual with slit pupils surrounded by an explosion of blue color. His face was pale, smooth, cheekbones high and lips attractive in shape. Those same lips curved into a smile.

“My name is Seth,” the man introduced and Cloud’s heart shot off again, forcing him to look away and try to calm before looking at the man again.

“You look like-”

“The infamous Sephiroth? Yes, I hear it all the time,” Seth said, smiling. Taking a breath and releasing it, the blonde’s eyes drifted for a second before looking back up at the man’s handsome, almost disarming expression.

“Cloud,” the blonde answered and the man twisted to look out the window behind them, up toward the sky just as the light of the sun cut out. “That’s my name,” Cloud clarified and the man looked at him again, chuckling a little, which made the blonde’s cheeks warm. “Yeah, it’s bizarre,” he muttered.

“I wouldn’t say that. It’s better than Apple,” Seth answered, chuckling, which succeeded in making Cloud’s lips twitch until he finally gave a small smile, his breath coming slightly easier.

“Feeling better?” Seth asked and the blonde averted his eyes as he straightened himself out and leaned back against the seat, slightly hesitant.

“Sort of,” Cloud answered.

“I don’t know if that part of a ShinRa PM will work, but I didn’t know what else to offer in assistance,” the brunette explained.

“It’s okay, I appreciate the offer,” the blonde informed before realizing something based on what Seth had said moments prior and pulled his wallet out of his front pants pocket.

“How much was that?” Cloud asked.

“No charge,” the brunette said. The blonde looked up at him, and the man simply smiled at him.

“It’s good to do charity once in a while,” Seth declared dismissively. With a reluctant nod, the blonde pocketed his wallet again, leaned forward, and hugged his backpack once more.

“Do you do anything else?” Cloud asked after a few moments of train rattling filled the dead air.

“Various things,” the brunette answered.

“I work in retail,” the blonde informed, not entirely sure why he felt the need to make the conversation continue.

“A job full of horror stories,” Seth said in return and another small twitch curved Cloud’s lips. A hand settled on his shoulder, and the blonde twitched. Cloud glanced at the gloved limb, and then up at his train companion’s face. He wasn’t really looking at him anymore, his eyes were out the window, even though nothing could really be seen.

“This city is full of suffering,” Seth said softly as his hand started to rub the blonde’s shoulder. Gathering another calming breath into his lungs, Cloud decided to sit up and lean against the seat again, which caused the brunette’s bold hand to drop off of him.

“There’s suffering everywhere,” the blonde responded.

“A shame, don’t you think?” the brunette asked.

“I don’t think there’s any way to get rid of it. I think suffering is part of what all living organisms do,” Cloud answered.

“True, but don’t you think humans could do better? What is the point of their intelligence otherwise? Instead, all they do is fuck and destroy everything in their path,” Seth answered and the blonde stared, surprised by the edge of contempt in the brunette’s voice.

“But, there are a lot of humans who spend their whole lives doing good for others, even self-sacrifice is a very human thing,” Cloud said, not exactly sure why he felt the need to defend humans, defend himself. Seth looked at the blonde then and smiled.

“Well, you’re not a nihilist like me then,” the brunette informed, his tone flat. Cloud frowned, an odd sensation of concern washing over him at the thought that maybe he had just said something to ruin the conversation. It was strange, it had been a long time since he had been excited about meeting someone, even though, admittedly, he had been quite scared of the man initially. But Seth had been nothing but kind to him.

“Uh,” Cloud sounded and looked away, awkward, as his face tensed in thought, trying to think up something, anything to keep the conversation going. If his answer had killed the conversation, he needed to revive it. A chuckle caught his ear and the blonde looked back up at the brunette who was watching him with an almost curious expression.

“You don’t have to try so hard. I’m not offended by your difference in opinion. In fact, I think I’d rather like to know someone who thinks differently, perhaps I can see something nice if I were to be befriended by someone like you,” Seth explained and the blonde felt his chest swell with hope as he leaned forward, lips parting.

“You can,” Cloud blurted before his face tightened in embarrassment and he looked away. The brunette chuckled.

“Oh? Shall we be train friends then?” Seth asked, a tease in his voice.

“No, I mean. We could exchange cell numbers,” the blonde offered.

“I don’t have a cellphone,” the brunette informed and the blonde looked back up at the man, surprised. “There are more important things for gil to be spent on, like food,” Seth explained and slowly Cloud nodded.

“I know it’s old fashioned, but we could meet up somewhere. Perhaps a restaurant in Wall Market? Or a coffee shop? Though I’d suggest you stay away from anything stimulating,” the brunette said. Cloud stared for a moment when he heard the name of his stop called. The blonde looked over toward the car doors and then back to Seth who smiled at him, expectant.

“We get off at the same stop, no need to rush your answer,” the brunette informed. Despite such words, however, anxiety started to well up in the blonde again. He needed to answer as soon as possible. It wasn’t like the world was going to end, but his heart was starting to race, but not quite in the bad way it usually did.

“Coffee,” Cloud answered quickly, tense.

“All right. There’s only one coffee shop in Wall Market, so how about we go there?” Seth asked. Cloud looked down at the backpack in his arms.

“I uh, I have to drop off frozen food,” the blonde said in a low voice.

“That’s alright. I’ll meet you there in an hour then, is that enough time?” the brunette asked and Cloud pulled his phone from his pocket, turned the screen on, and looked at the time.

“Yeah, that’s enough,” the blonde said when their stop was called while a ding filled the cabin, telling everyone to get up if they wanted off. Cloud stood, perhaps too quickly, while Seth smoothly rose to his full gait. The blonde looked up at the man, into his face. There was something oddly magnetizing, from the way the low rumble of his voice softly hit his ears, to the smile that curved his lips. Even the smell of leather, so close to his memories of home, Cloud didn’t want this new connection to sever right away.

“Shall we go?” the brunette asked, bringing the blonde out of the brief spell he’d fallen under. Turning his head toward the door, Cloud sheepishly picked up his feet and joined the small line of people exiting with Seth at his back. It almost tickled, having the brunette back there, an odd sensation that felt a mix between uncomfortable and warm. When the two exited the train and Cloud turned toward his new potential friend, his first real friend probably ever, and gave an awkward smile that the brunette returned with such grace and ease that it made his heart stutter.

“See you in an hour,” Seth said in farewell and Cloud nodded as he slowly pulled his backpack onto his shoulders.

“Yeah, see you,” the blonde said in agreement. With that, the brunette plucked his hat from off of Cloud’s head, surprising the blonde enough to make his face warm when he realized he’d forgotten he was wearing it. With a smirk, Seth put it back on his head and tipped down the brim over his forehead.

“I look forward to talking more.” And after those parting words, the mysterious brunette named Seth, who so closely resembled the Wutai Hero Sephiroth, sauntered off the platform and down the street, a graceful, almost sensual sway to his soft, smooth steps.


End file.
